The approach trail to El Cajon Wall has been seriously compromised. It is not completely destroyed but someone went to one HELL of a lot of trouble to make things difficult for those wishing to access the Wall. LOTS of medium sized boulders (and a few larger specimens) have been trundled onto the path, and two large portions of the trail on steep hillside (specifically, the water crossing areas) have been dug out with what appears to be a pick creating a nice "bomb crater" effect.

For those familiar with the trail, the damaged areas are easily bypassed but for anyone visiting the area who does not know the trail well this will undoubtedly cause them time, frustration and high PO factor. It looks as though this is precisely what the vandal was attempting to accomplish.

If anyone knows of any reason why these actions took place, could you please share the information here? The instances of vandalism at crags is starting to become a disturbing trend... Some human beings here in 'Dago (notably Brian Spiewak, Chris Hubbard, Art Messier) have spent considerable personal time and effort making this a great place to visit and a premier SoCal destination.

If anyone has a bone to pick with the developers, I encourage you to speak your mind and defend your piss-ant tactics in a public forum.

Same thing happened here in Apple Valley at Tattooine a couple of months ago. someone came in and totally destroyed the trail and also put more than a dozen spikes in the parking area. One of my friends got his tire flattened and I almost stepped on one. We did get ahold of the BLM, but they can't do anything unless they catch someone. I know what I'd do if I caught one of them. I shove those spikes right up their......... Cosmiccragsman

This too happened out here on a trail. I advised the NFS and they found the person doing it. Turns out it was a private home owner near the area that wanted more privacy. Is there private property near this area you speak of? Might want to check it out. Just a thought.

yes there is private property adjacent (albeit quite a distance) from the affected area. This owner is reportedly not friendly to people utilizing land near his own. However since he does not live at said property (his house has burned down twice in wildfires in the last decade) I doubt he has much cause (or energy) for destroying a lowly climbers trail. He certainly is a suspect though...

Fortunately, thus far he appears not to own or know how to operate a cold chisel. Hopefully we've seen the last of his nefarious deeds... -s

I was out at El Cap wall this morning, September 18th, 2005. I did not notice any significant degradation of the trail compared to when I was last there in June.

There was one spot where it looked like some erosion had worn away the trail and thus you had to lower yourself over a boulder. Also there were a couple of areas where we almost took the wrong trail because overgrown bushes covered the correct trail. Maybe this is what happened to you?

We moved many of the offending boulders last time we went out (4Sept) as well as clearing a lot of brush and tree limbs that were blocking the trail at the first stream crossing. The hole you noticed after the 2nd stream crossing is not erosion judging by the tool marks in the soil; ditto for the final stream crossing. I doubt that erosion would have put all those gouge marks in the rocks blocking the path either. Glad to hear that at least it hasn't gotten any worse... -s

We moved many of the offending boulders last time we went out (4Sept) as well as clearing a lot of brush and tree limbs that were blocking the trail at the first stream crossing. The hole you noticed after the 2nd stream crossing is not erosion judging by the tool marks in the soil; ditto for the final stream crossing. I doubt that erosion would have put all those gouge marks in the rocks blocking the path either. Glad to hear that at least it hasn't gotten any worse... -s

Ah, in that case thank you for the excellent trail maintenance. If I hadn't been told about this thread, I never would have suspected that the trail had been damaged.